Hey all!

Alex here, and today’s hot topic of this article regarding Vray questions, how it’s working, and where it’s going. I’ve tried to make it also for the advanced users, so you can just jump ahead to the tasty stuff at the bottom.

Well I’ve searched the Internet and found bunch of interesting questions asking ,”Do i need to have a diploma in Vray to get a job?“, “Is Vray a hard program to learn?“,  questions regarding functionality of Vray and new features, also question regarding industry “Is it really worth investing in Vray?” and finally the best question of all “What is Vray?”

Some of you might smile reading that in 2010 and some of you may scratch your head and ask “..ray what?”.

If you still haven’t heard of Vray, or didn’t hear enough or you just want to update your knowledge, and to know what this is all about, you should read this because almost all the information regarding Vray in the Internet now, is out of date.

So Vray is a Rendering Engine (according to the Wikipedia) and was developed in Bulgaria by two guys around 1997 when they opened a company called Chaos Group…Well that”s just grate ! Is it GTI or Diesel Engine?

Exactly, so let me just explain these first two words (if you are an advanced user you can skip this part).

Rendering, means that it does Render, sort of computer calculation to produce an image out of 3D program.

Engine, is an application (program plugin) that can be installed inside the 3D program in order to produce Render.

In other words Vray is a plugin that runs a  mathematical algorithm computation on variety of 3D software in order to produce an “out put”, which is our image.

On which 3D software Vray can be installed ? Good news for you guys, cos Vray can be installed almost on every 3D application today. well at least the big boys already using it, such as: 3Ds max, Maya, Cinema 4D, SketchUp, Rhino, Blender. As well as coming soon after beta testing Vray for Lightwave and SoftImage XSI.

Isn’t it just grate! all that Vray love is spreading all around to all available 3D application, and if you ask me it well be pretty much the same thing for all of them, but will manage the advantage of every 3D software.

“What is better – to learn 3Ds max or Maya?”

Simply every 3D software is designed to do something better then the other, for example, 3Ds max is a very good for Games and architecture, all the features that it has designed to make the working process easier, from the other hand Maya, is a master lead for creating 3D animation, character animation and got all the nessasary tools to make your life much easier when it comes to animation. Rhino and Blender are just grate for modeling and have lots of very useful tools and features to speed up modeling process, SketchUp and Cinema 4D can be also good for Architecture, both of these programs are getting stronger every day, but most of the working materials designed for 3Ds max and it is definitely the leading program in Architecture Visualization Industry…so you see, every program got it”s own advantages, but it all comes to the same point when you want to see what you have created, and yes, this is when you do Render, calculate the image out of your 3D software.

Pretty nice don’t you think ?

Well all the 3D programs have their basic Rendering options/Rendering Engines, and some of them are pretty good, but Vray has proved itself over the years as the fastest, easiest and one of the highest quality Rendering Engine on today’s market. The popularity of Vray growing so fast every day that I’m pretty sure it will be the main Rendering software to be used in the entertainment industry future days to come. ( See it for yourself – Architectural Visualization Industry Servey)

Well good! but I”ve herd that there is much better Rendering Engines, such as Mental Ray, Final Render, Brazil..

Heck yeah! and No! It is exactly what I was talking about in my previous Article, “it is not about what software you use, it’s how you use it” (and what can you get out of it !). But let me just note something that you might be missing, knowing Vray it will be much easier to get a job plus it is the fastest rendering engine out  there, and fast results matter! Time=Money, that is the main key of Vray and it”s about to go much more faster, so fast that you will not have to spend hours of sitting and waiting for your render to be done, I”m talking about minutes, may be even seconds, for one complicated image must be rendered. For those who didn”t know Render is a process that depends on your computer quality hardware, more RAM, faster processor=faster Rendering times.

” Hey… Wait a minute, what about graphic card ?” yep tha”s about it! most of the graphic cards will provide you better performance while working with 3D scenes, off course newer graphic cards have also RAM memory and can help during the Rendering, this process called CPU Render (CPU=central processing unit) in other words your processor works harder, and it woks also to operate all your system and the computer programs, everything that you are using on your PC at the same time you”re making a Render, therefore it is very advisable to shut down all unnecessary programs while Rendering (so basically you stuck and paralyzed).

Here it is getting real good! Imagine to yourself strong graphic card, that can take all the Render to itself and leave your computer to do other work while Rendering. Two benefits can be drown from that:

1. Your’re Rendering faster.

2. You’ll be able to do other stuff as well.

Yep, I”m talking about GPU Render (G is for graphic), well it must be heck of a graphic card and it probably will be in startreck age. I don’t think so!…yep it’s near and getting closer, and the good news that Vray is the first to do it. Rendering process will be computed in minutes, Renders that took hours will be Rendered in several minutes.

“I don’t believe you! where is the prove ?” The prove is right here, video from the SIGGRAPH 2009 Chaos Group presentattion

Yaww! where can I get it? well you have to wait a bit for Chaos Group guys to make it work on our computer as well, don’t worry, soon enough, I assume in a few months and it will be at your local store.

Yes! Good Lord Jesus!

So this is it guys, you just have to be good at what you do and be able to get fast results in no time, cos’s this industry is about time and time is …big Gees!

And remember if you want to do it RIGHT do it like a PRO!

This was Alex, I wish you the best luck in your quest, and come around to check new stuff I’ll be updating on Vray Free Videos, on my blog here.

Thanks for shearing my thoughts, see you next time,

Adios